Dan Falloon
The past two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind for Mary Spencer.
The 25-year-old product of Cape Croker First Nation just earned the right to represent Canada in women’s boxing at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England.
Spencer, who boxes in the 75-kg division, is one of three Canadian women who will participate in the Games, which will mark the first appearance of women’s boxing at the Olympics.
Spencer won a pair of matches against defending Canadian champion Ariane Fortin in Halifax on Feb. 24 and 25.
Then over the weekend, just days after her clinching win, she was here to encourage students at Fort High and on Seine River First Nation to set goals and reach out to achieve them.
In terms of enthusiasm, the locals caught her at exactly the right time.
“I’ve been excited for a week straight,” enthused Spencer, who is a six-time Canadian champion and two-time world champ.
Spencer recalled that before she started boxing eight years ago, she just coasted through life without much ambition. Even though she played soccer, volleyball, and basketball in high school, no sport piqued her interest until she took up boxing.
“Before I started boxing, I really didn’t have any goals. I found myself getting into a lot of trouble,” she admitted.
“Even though I was the captain of a couple of my high school teams, I was still failing gym class just because I didn’t really care about it.”
Spencer credits her coach, Charlie Stewart, who has trained male boxers in each of the last three Olympics, with having given her a focus in life and something to work ahead to.
“He gives me life lessons inside and outside the ring,” she lauded. “It’s really just about learning to be disciplined.”
Now that she has settled down and gotten her life on track, Spencer hopes to give back to young people through “Motivate Canada.”
Her appearances here in the Rainy River District were her first through the organization, but Spencer conjured the same confidence she feels in the ring to help power through any nerves she might have been feeling.
“I was just telling them what it was like for me,” she remarked.
“The one subject I really wanted to touch on was what it means to believe,” she stressed.
And that all begins with confidence, which is what Spencer holds dear before a big fight.
“I went in not doubting myself,” she explained. “I went in believing so powerfully that I thought I knew what was going to happen.”
Spencer also recounted how she had to deal with a curveball when her sport was added to the Olympics two years ago given the Games only were adding three weight categories—51 kg, 60 kg, and 75 kg.
Standing 5’11,” Spencer had been fighting in a 64-kg division. But instead of losing weight to fight in a lighter category, she bulked up to qualify for the heaviest one, which required a new skill set for her to master.
“[In the 64-kg division], I had so much of a height advantage that I always had to fight at a distance from my opponent,” Spencer noted.
“But I’ve always liked infighting [closer-range fighting], so it was easy for me to learn.”
Being able to fight both ways gives Spencer an advantage against most opponents, many of whom have only practised one discipline or the other.
“A lot of fighters are one-dimensional and you have to be a well-rounded fighter,” she remarked.
“Now I just feel like I can box against anyone.”
In part because of her natural swagger, Spencer feels as though she has a legitimate shot at gold in London two years from now. But she also points to the general career arc of boxers, and figured she’ll be right in her prime.
“In 2012, I’ll be 27,” she noted. “They say it takes about 10 years of training to really master it.
“That’ll be my 10th year.”
In between big fights, Spencer is looking at starting a program to keep up with kids back at Cape Croker and encouraging them to do their best, like she connected with those at Seine River over the weekend.
